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Is the Nature of the International Legal System Changing?

Is the Nature of the International Legal System Changing? Two years ago, a Japanese scholar, Yasuaki Onuma published a paper in the Journal of the History of International Law' in which he studied the concept of the inter- national legal community as conceived and practiced through the ages and across civilizations. He identified two basic concepts which had been followed at various times in history and in different regions of the world: one of them decentralized, regulated by agreements between independent human groups sharing a common world image; the other centralized, governed by unilateral rules of a central State or empire. In a footnote of his paper Onuma describes the current situation as follows: Thus, one could understand, although one may not endorse, why the US tends to apply unilaterally its domestic laws even outside its territory. Since the US is today's version of the central power or empire, it is in a sense natural for it to behave unilaterally, disregarding rules of international law which are based on the principle of equality. The serious problem for the US is that, unlike historical norms surrounding the former empires behaving unilaterally, today's inter- national law is based, not on hierarchical notions, but on the notion of equality of states. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Austrian Review of International and European Law Online Brill

Is the Nature of the International Legal System Changing?

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Publisher
Brill
Copyright
Copyright © Koninklijke Brill NV, Leiden, The Netherlands
eISSN
1573-6512
DOI
10.1163/157365103X00027
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Two years ago, a Japanese scholar, Yasuaki Onuma published a paper in the Journal of the History of International Law' in which he studied the concept of the inter- national legal community as conceived and practiced through the ages and across civilizations. He identified two basic concepts which had been followed at various times in history and in different regions of the world: one of them decentralized, regulated by agreements between independent human groups sharing a common world image; the other centralized, governed by unilateral rules of a central State or empire. In a footnote of his paper Onuma describes the current situation as follows: Thus, one could understand, although one may not endorse, why the US tends to apply unilaterally its domestic laws even outside its territory. Since the US is today's version of the central power or empire, it is in a sense natural for it to behave unilaterally, disregarding rules of international law which are based on the principle of equality. The serious problem for the US is that, unlike historical norms surrounding the former empires behaving unilaterally, today's inter- national law is based, not on hierarchical notions, but on the notion of equality of states.

Journal

Austrian Review of International and European Law OnlineBrill

Published: Jan 1, 2005

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